Tristan Williams
10-10-2009, 3:09 PM
I got my hands on a copy of David Finck's book over a year ago, and I finally followed through on my continual threats to build a plane!
I decided to make this first one just a cheap experiment to practice and see if I liked wood planes at all, so I did a few things different. I used a new Stanley 45mm blade with no cap iron, laminated the body from 15mm beech "hobby wood", and used brass rod for the pin. Its about 20cm long. Everything was bought from a big box type store, and overall cost very little. In addition I built it with an absolute bare minimum of tools - saw, chisels, drill, sandpaper to true the surfaces, and rasps to shape it.
It was a fun experiment, and very quick. I'll probably follow it up in the future with a similarly built jointer, hopefully with a Hock iron and cap!
So, how does it perform? Amazingly well! I'm very pleasantly surprised - I haven't finished tuning it yet, but it already cuts nicer than my metal #5, and after some practice I really like the method of adjustment. I made a big pile of shavings this afternoon with it, and I think its a keeper! Its great at taking heavy shavings, but the blade chatters a bit too much for fine work. It does a pretty good job, but so far I've only tested with a semi-sharp blade (shaves hairs with force) and the wedge needs more tuning - its a bit thick, so the front of the blade doesn't get as much support as I'd like. I would like to find or make a thicker blade for it, too.
Give it a go, fence-sitters! You'd be surprised just how easy it is to make a very handy plane :)
I've attached a picture - its only roughly shaped so far, but now that I've got a feel for how it planes I think I'll round it off some more and make it a bit prettier. It works great, push or pull, and working with a tool you made yourself is a great feeling :D
I decided to make this first one just a cheap experiment to practice and see if I liked wood planes at all, so I did a few things different. I used a new Stanley 45mm blade with no cap iron, laminated the body from 15mm beech "hobby wood", and used brass rod for the pin. Its about 20cm long. Everything was bought from a big box type store, and overall cost very little. In addition I built it with an absolute bare minimum of tools - saw, chisels, drill, sandpaper to true the surfaces, and rasps to shape it.
It was a fun experiment, and very quick. I'll probably follow it up in the future with a similarly built jointer, hopefully with a Hock iron and cap!
So, how does it perform? Amazingly well! I'm very pleasantly surprised - I haven't finished tuning it yet, but it already cuts nicer than my metal #5, and after some practice I really like the method of adjustment. I made a big pile of shavings this afternoon with it, and I think its a keeper! Its great at taking heavy shavings, but the blade chatters a bit too much for fine work. It does a pretty good job, but so far I've only tested with a semi-sharp blade (shaves hairs with force) and the wedge needs more tuning - its a bit thick, so the front of the blade doesn't get as much support as I'd like. I would like to find or make a thicker blade for it, too.
Give it a go, fence-sitters! You'd be surprised just how easy it is to make a very handy plane :)
I've attached a picture - its only roughly shaped so far, but now that I've got a feel for how it planes I think I'll round it off some more and make it a bit prettier. It works great, push or pull, and working with a tool you made yourself is a great feeling :D